Crazy Coffins at the Southbank

Bespoke coffin company Crazy Coffins made a special appearance at London’s Royal Festival Hall.A dozen of its creations – including a ballet shoe, a skip and a Viking longship – were on display as part of the Belief and Beyond Belief festival running at the Southbank Centre throughout 2017.

Featuring music from the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the festival explores the music, art, culture, science, philosophy, ritual and traditions that emanate from religion.
Topics include The Search for the Meaning of Life, and Science Versus Religion, as well as the one that included the coffins – How DO We Live With Death?
This section posed the questions: Does modern society distance us from our own mortality? And how are we able to live with the death of a loved one without the promise of seeing them in an afterlife?
Speakers included the Bishop of Leeds Nick Baines and talks and debates covered the right to die, the way to immortality and burial rites, and other issues.
Visitors also got the chance to write a traditional Mexican Day of the Dead ‘calavera’ poem to a loved one. These are intended to tease people for their faults while also reminding them of their mortality.

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